The True Agreste
by AsuraHeterodyne
Summary: Adrianna was locked in her ivory tower, until she met a cat that could make her a superhero. Female Adrien transforms into male Chat Noir. Starts with Origin Episode. Stays true to the episodes (with the exception of Fem!Adrien). T for possible language and suggestive comments.
1. Chapter 1

_"_ _Are they still following me?"_

Adrianna risked a glance over her shoulder as she ran.

 _"_ _No car. Good."_

A blonde girl in a white over shirt and jeans ran past a perfume ad with her face splashed across it. She scampered up the last few steps to the school when she heard a scream of tires and an all too familiar voice.

"Adrianna Agreste! Please, you know your father expressly forbad this!" Natalie was already shouting as she exited the still moving vehicle. Adrianna turned to face the severe woman and the hulking figure that shadowed her.

"Natalie, please! I want to live my life, not stay locked away in an ivory tower like a damsel in distr-" a cough interrupted Adrianna's plea. An old man reached for his cane from where he had fallen, wincing as his frail body protested the movement.

All thoughts of school ceased as she rushed to help the man before he was run over by a pedestrian staring at his cellphone. The kindly teen grabbed his cane and handed it to him as she gingerly eased him to his feet.

"Thank you, my child." He wheezed. He was dressed like a tourist. Hawaiian shirt with khaki capris, but with a jade bracelet and a goatee that gave him a dignity that was incongruous with his casual attire.

The old man apprised her, as if searching for something. Adrianna was used to professional appraisals of her face and body, with photographers searching for the right way to get the image they wanted from her. She was also used to the much less professional leers from some of the people she worked with. Adrianna was lucky however, as her father was a very famous designer who had clout enough to keep all hands at bay; she knew of many girls who didn't have such protection. It was part and parcel of the whole modeling career that her father has pushed her into.

This was different. He wasn't looking _at_ her, so much as he was looking _into_ her. It was as if he was trying to get a feeling for the kind of person she was. In that moment he seemed much older and wiser than his frail and goofy appearance would suggest.

He stood up and smiled, the curious look in his eyes gone. The old man leaned on his cane. Satisfied that he was okay, Adrianna turned, smiling. The smile slid from her face when faced with the rigid stance of the two adults charged with her keeping.

"All I want," she argued in a defiant tone, "is to go to school like everyone else. What's wrong with that?" Nathalie's eyes hardened.

Adrianna felt the excitement that had filled her ever since she had registered for the small public high school leave her; cold reality settling in its wake. She had researched this school. She had dreamed that she would find friends there. She would finally have a life of her own. She would be able to do things _her way_ even if she was shackled to the perfection which came with the name Agreste. She could've spend time with Chloe and her friends, and could've been loved for who she was, not what she was. She could go to a place where her father didn't matter, where she could just be a regular teenager.

But this airy fantasy of acceptance and peace died as she gazed into the hard glare of the woman who was the closest thing to an actual parent she had anymore. She slumped, and looked away from the piercing ice-blue gaze of her father's secretary.

 _"_ _Of course I can't._

Adrianna felt like she was only an asset to her father. A porcelain doll to dress up and pose. Too expensive to let others close to her. Sure, her room was decked out in anything that money could buy, but a prison- no matter how beautiful- is still a prison. She was never allowed to leave the house unless it was for business. Heck, she was barely allowed out of her room most of the time.

"Please don't tell my father." the young girl sighed. Anger would come later; she was too numb to make a scene. The Ape-like giant that Adrianna had always thought of as "The Gorilla" guided her to the car. The door shut with a slam like that of a coffin lid. She saw the cream-colored brick of the Dupont high school slip away, the familiar feeling of isolation suffocating her once more.

Unseen by the car's occupants, the old man in a Hawaiian print shirt leaned leisurely on his cane, his tremor and frailty gone. He gave a knowing nod before slinging the cane over his shoulder, heading to his newfound destination.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors note:**

 **My chapters seem a bit short, so I guess that I'm starting with two. Please give me good feedback.**

 **I own nothing**

The stark white walls towered around Adrianna as she sat, slumped on the hard chair. Her chin rested in her hand with a heavy-lidded expression of boredom. Her eyes were on her open textbook as she chanted the answer to Natalie's question from memory.

She was tired of all the rules that were put upon her. She was never to lose her temper. She was always to diligently work on her Chinese, piano, fencing, schoolwork, _and_ her career. She wanted nothing more than to know what it was like to be a real kid, with a real life. She had seen her share of movies, and had read many books in her time. She knew that kids were supposed to go to school, and have friends. They didn't have careers, and they were allowed to go outside for more than just photoshoots. She wanted to do something genuine. Something that had nothing to do with her father. She wanted to be _her_ … whoever that was.

 _I would've have had a couple of friends that would share their interests with me. I would've had a best friend, other than Chloe. Someone who would commiserate with me about books we had to read, or essays we had to write, or whatever friends did. I could laugh, and complain, and not have to worry. It would have been so nice…._ Adrianna drifted into a daydream of her faceless fictional bestie.

"Give us a moment, Natalie." I stiffened. Reality crashed through Adrianna's daydreaming fog. Her father rarely visited, and when he did, they weren't social calls. Reprimands seemed to be the only thing that he could bring himself to be in the same room with her for. She wished that such wasn't the case.

Nathalie stood aside with a professional "Yes, sir."

Adrianna's father, Gabriel Agreste stood like a pillar of stone in the entryway of the dining hall. His form, while slender, seemed to dominate the room. The mansion around them echoed the man himself: intimidating, stylish, impersonal, cold. This calculating man was an excellent businessman and designer, his skill as a father left something to be desired.

"I thought I had already told you that it was out of the question for you to attend a _public school._ " Adrianna's Father's voice echoed into the cavernous space between them.

Adrianna's eyes met with Natalie's before hers slid to the floor. A hint of embarrassment crossing her features.

 _Well, it is her job._ Adrianna thought, as a twinge of betrayal made its way through the carefully erected layers of indifference between the young girl and the woman who took care of her. Adrianna buried the emotion, choosing instead to focus on the rare attention directed at her.

"But Father-"she started, all of her arguments ready. Dupont High had the police station just down the street, and was one of the safest schools in the area. It was well funded, well-staffed, and was likely one of the best in the country.

 _Not to mention Chloe would be there._

Chloe. The only friend that Adrianna's father had allowed her to have. She was nice to Adrianna, and liked to talk with her at the dinners and functions that they were expected to attend. Chloe mostly spoke of the latest thing that her father had bought her, or her latest beau. Chloe and her father seemed to get along well. She was free to do as she pleased, a concept foreign to the young Agreste. When she was younger, Adrianna was fascinated by their relationship. She longed for her and her father to get along like that. Luckily for Adrianna, one of Chloe's favorite topics was her father.

"You have everything that you could want in this house." Adrianna's father interrupted.

 _Except friendship._ Adrianna thought bitterly.

It was true that Adrianna's father allowed her any material thing that she could think to ask for. Huge bed, the latest video games, state of the art computer, and a huge flat screen TV _._ The second floor of her bedroom featured walls of books and movies that would be the envy of most libraries.

Once, when Adrianna was feeling rebellious, she had asked for a skate ramp in her room. She thought for sure that her father would lecture her about the dangers of skateboarding, especially inside, but he just signed off on it without even scheduling an appointment to see her about it.

"I forbid you from going outside, it's far too dangerous." That was a laugh, talk about a bubble-wrap parent. Most of the conversations that Adrianna had with her father wound up sounding like a conversation between Mother Gothel and Rapunzel. The first time Adrianna saw Tangled, she tried to run away to see a park that she had always looked at from across the street. The security guards caught her trying to climb the wall. The next month she asked for a rock wall in her room. In the year that followed she learned where the security cameras were, and had gotten pretty good at scaling the outside wall in the 3 seconds that it took before the image recognition software determined that she wasn't a stray cat.

Adrianna's anger bubbled and indignation surged at her father viewing her as nothing more than a liability. How could he claim to want what was best for her when he barely paid attention to her? How could he keep her cooped up with hardly anyone to talk to? What was so dangerous about the world that it was safer to let her go insane from isolation? She was not made of glass, and she was not frail!

She stood up. Her posture stiff and determined.

"Why do you keep me in a cocoon? I am always alone." Adrianna's anger and frustration overrode her ability to stay quiet "Why can't I have friends like everybody else?" It was the closest she had come to shouting at her father.

"Because you are _not_ like anyone else. You are an Agreste. Now resume your work."

He turned his back on his daughter and left the room.

"We can stop there if you like." Nathalie's professional tone all but covered the twinge of sympathy and guilt in her voice. The older woman stepped toward the teen, who by then was shaking with unspent frustration and disappointment.

Adrianna ran past the oil painting that stood on the mantel. The image of a blond woman, man, and girl, a sick reminder of a family that would never be again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note:**

 **By reading this you are making me feel loved, thank you dear reader. Please review to let me know what I can do better. You can also review to tell me what you like about the story, so I can keep that in mind too.**

 **May you have a wonderful day!**

 **I own nothing**

Adrianna flung her backpack down in disgust and flopped onto her bed. She buried her face in a pillow and allowed herself a muffled scream of rage and frustration.

She hated this house, with its echoing walls and its cavernous ceilings. Everything in this house was starched and white, devoid of all life and emotion. Hers was the only room in the house that she didn't hate. She had tried to fill it with wild colors, splashing one wall with bright orange paint and speckles of bright plastic climbing rocks, another with arcade games, and still more with books and trophies. She vainly tried to surround herself with noise and life.

The high point of her days was immersing herself in another world. Books were her guilty pleasure. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Wizard of Oz, Enders Game, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land, Red Rising, The Mote in Gods Eye, Ready Player One, on and on the list went until two walls were full of books upon books.

She wasn't especially picky though, arcade games, movies, TV shows, music, anime, manga, web comics, and videogames, anything to get her away from her reality.

Often, the only way to smile for the camera for her job would be to imagine herself as one of the characters in her books. She would be a hero who overthrew a great oppressor. She wouldn't give a damn about her father. She would learn magic and defeat Voldemort, she would learn to outsmart the Formics, she would befriend a computer and start the revolution of Luna, she would be a Peerless Scarred, or she could use her knowledge of 80's pop culture to drag her from poverty in a crumbling future.

 _I wish I could be someone else_.

She lay there trying not to feel like a bug trapped in a spider web. If only she could be a cat. Cats could go anywhere, and were beholden to no one. Sure, they had people that they liked, but that didn't mean that anyone controlled them. Who could resist playing with a cat, and giving it all their attention? Then again, cats were not afraid to let someone know when they wanted attention. They would wake them up in the night, or sit on keyboards, or meow loudly at people. Cats are not polite, they are just cats. They do not pretend to be anything else.

 _Oh the life of a cat_. The young girl thought whimsically, and groaned before gravitating back into her funk.

A series of crashes broke her from her reverie.

 _"What the-"_

She ran down the stairs to the front doors. The crashing came like an angry giant stomping outside the gate. Adrianna saw the police vehicles and riot gear-clad members of the Paris PD lined up in a barricade with their guns pointed to something that she couldn't see. They were lined up in a sloppy picket, and looked absolutely terrified of whatever their guns were pointed at. Whatever it was, it was big and scary enough that dozens of police were very intimidated.

Something was wrong. Horribly wrong.

"ON MY MARK!" A fat, red-headed, middle-aged policeman stood on a van, the only member of the blockade that was not protected by riot gear. He seemed to be the only person who wasn't on the verge of needing a new set of underpants. He also was very clearly a high-ranking official who had not actually worked in the field in a long time. He was either superbly confident in his planning, or very, very stupid.

The teen stood, struck dumb as a towering colossus of stone approached the terrified officers.

" _I thought monsters didn't exist."_

The thing outside the gates was roughly human in form. Bipedal and made of stone, it reminded Adrianna of the giants depicted in the fairy tales her mother had read to her in her childhood. Many stories and movies featured mythical creatures made of earth, but she had never believed they existed before now.

"FIRE" the snap of munitions reverberated through the air, an excellent show of power that was made unimpressive by the echo of the deafening footsteps still bouncing around the buildings.

The goliath recoiled. It covered its face where the beams had hit. The space between his fingers flashed with the blue light of the human's weapons.

A blinding yellow light engulfed the angry form as it grew to twice its previous height.

"KIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMM!" It roared in an inhuman scream of rage and power. At this, the barely contained flight reflex of each of the officers finally broke through their discipline. They all ran from the pursuing golem as it easily scooped up a van and threw it at the crowd of fleeing Police.


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors note:**

 **I have this head cannon that the reason that Tikki is not forthcoming with information, is because of a combination of 'ignorance is bliss' and 'you must go on a journey to figure things out on your own'. Thus, I think that Plagg would just casually spew information and give questionable advice. Especially when fed cheese. I also think that the Cat Miraculous bad luck often makes it so that Adri/Chat doesn't notice, or doesn't always do the right thing.(That's my B.S. rationalization and I'm sticking to it!)**

 **Also, I originally made it so that Adrien's gender was ambiguous up to this part so that it was a surprise to the audience to find out that Adrien was a girl. I changed it because my friend didn't like that it was out-of-the-blue, and because third person is _so_ much better than first person. **

**I wanted to take out the transformation paragraph, but I had watched that 16 seconds of video (yes, his transformation is exactly 16 seconds long) for about 45 minutes to make that. Plus, I wanted to have an explanation of how Adrien knew how to gracefully transform. So sue me.**

 **I own nothing**

"-That appears to be a supervillain is terrorizing Paris. This is not a joke. I repeat, a Supervillain is terrorizing Paris. The Mayor asks all Parisians to stay indoors until the situation is under control. We have just gotten word that the police force is trying to negotiate with the individual, more news as it develops." The news anchor said. Her voice remained professional, but worry broke through the mask of detachment that all newspersons seemed obligated to wear.

 _This is actually happening._

The blonde girl sat in front of the TV and watched a helicopter image of the chaos outside. The giant outside roared again, and the tiny Golem onscreen opened his mouth in delayed agreement.

 _What would happen if negotiations failed?_ Adrianna had seen the monster with her own eyes. The police couldn't stop it. They would need to send a military vehicle to dispatch the monster. Munitions that size were bound to send debris into neighboring buildings.

People were going to get hurt, if they hadn't already when that thing threw the van. People could die. Tens of people, maybe hundreds, might lose their lives because of this. A family could be marred by a parent who never came home. They might never know what happened to their loved one. Another family could suffer the same fate as Adrianna's. This thought hit her like a punch in the gut.

 _I wish I would do something_. Nausea overtook the green-eyed girl. She felt so helpless and weak. She wanted to fight this thing somehow.

The girl's eyes caught a small box on the coffee table in front of her. It was made of smooth, dark wood with strange red markings. It was vaguely reminiscent of the beautiful Chinese buildings that Adrianna had seen in one of her textbooks.

"What is this?" her confusion as to how this mysterious object had found its way into her room bubbled through the fear that she felt. Adrianna's mind latched on to this new object, and hoped that by focusing on the mysterious box, she could keep her sickening hopelessness at bay.

She carefully opened the box. A silver metal ring was nestled into the lining. It had a thick band and had a flat circle of dull blank silver. Before Adrianna could register the piece of jewelry, a globe of green light blinded her. She dropped the box and Blinked spots out of her vision as she looked up and saw a floating black… thing. It yawned.

It had small triangular ears on the top of its head, and had whisker-like antennae poking from between where its eyebrows would be, as well as one on either side of its face. It had something that looked like a tail attached to its back. It had a head that was far too big for its tiny neck and body, and had huge green eyes with slits for pupils.

In other words, it looked like a Chibi version of a cat.

"No way! Like a genie in the lamp!" The excited and awestruck girl poked toward the tiny floating cat. It yawned.

 _"Holy Bastet! Real magic. It's right in front of me, and not threatening to kill me… yet."_ The excited teen's mind was racing. She had not yet fully processed the earlier display of magic. In the wake of the tumultuous thoughts and emotions that had followed the stone giant's wrath, she had almost completely forgot the fact that magic was involved.

She tried to touch the tiny floating cat before it drew back indignation.

"I met him once. So he grants wishes? Big deal. I grant powers, which is much cooler. Besides, I am way more personable! I am a kwami, and the name is Plagg. Now where is my cheese?" before the girl could speak, Plagg flew over to a foosball table and tried to eat one of the mini football players. Before the flustered teen could grab him he flew away to chew on something else. After five minutes of chasing it around, Adrianna limbed up the rock wall to pounce on the little demon cat.

"Look, I still don't know what you're doing here." She stated, the kwami squirming in her hands. He stilled and turned to his chosen. He seemed exasperated that this girl couldn't read minds.

"Weren't you listening? I am a kwami! I grant powers. Yours is the power of destruction. Got it?" the bewildered girl shook her head. Of course she wasn't getting it. What power of destruction? How would she wield it? Why her? Adrianna felt far away, like this was happening to someone else. Stuff like this just doesn't happen.

"Whatever, gimme something to eat." He wiggled, trying to break free from the human's grasp. The girl tried to process what had just happened, and tried to make sense of it. This couldn't be real.

"Hold on, my Father is pranking me, right? No, couldn't be… my Father has no sense of humor…" The girls confused thoughts were cut off when the kwami flew from her hand and said,

"Your Father must never know that I exist. Or anyone for that matter! Do not tell anyone about me. Not friends, not family, not anyone! Got it?"

 _That will be easy, seeing as I don't have any friends or family._ Adrianna thought bitterly.

"Okay, so you mentioned something about destruction?" The young Chosen grabbed the octagonal box that the cat came in.

"Yeah, but you have to put on the ring first. I can't do squat without the Miraculous." Plagg flew to the box and tapped the ring.

"In fact, the only reason you get to see me in all my resplendent glory is because I have a grace period to convince you to be a superhero. If you choose not to be a hero, back into the Miraculous Stone I go."

" _Wait. Superhero?"_

"I get the feeling that you won't need too much convincing. My kittens are usually the brash, 'knights in shining leather' type. They tend not to think ahead too much- they are well intentioned, but a bit dumb sometimes. They are always the ones getting into trouble. Of course, my luck doesn't help them at all. It's Tikki's buglings that decide that there may be someone better for the job." The cat sighed.

Adrianna wasn't listening. The word superhero caught her brain. She began to think about how she couldn't stand up to her own father, so how was she supposed to defeat supervillains? As much as she loved to fantasize about being the hero, she knew equally well that she played the role of 'Damsel in Distress' more than 'Knight in Shining Armor'.

"Me? A superhero? But I'm stuck here! I'm not even allowed to go to school!" her fists clenched. "What good is a superhero that is imprisoned in her own house?" She felt the suffocating protection of her father, her own personal hell. She couldn't help these people, she was too weak.

"No good at all!" Plagg replied. He had found some toilet paper and was unrolling it on the ground. Adrianna was too caught up to care. "That will change if you want it to! If you're willing to change, that is. Just put on the ring, and you will be a superhero. You will catch the bad guy, and save the day." The ring seemed to grow heavy in her palm as she stared at it.

 _Freedom._ Was it really that simple? Put on a ring and she could help those people? If it was, she could make sure that nothing bad happened to them. Adrianna would be free to do something _Adrianna_ wanted to do. That was all she needed.

"I accept." The fledgling hero said as she slid the ring on the fourth finger of her right hand. She stood ready. Nothing happened.

Adrianna don't know what she expected. Some sort of warmth or power coursing through her? Maybe some wind and light as dramatic music played in the background. All she got was a cold metal ring on her finger.

"That was anti-cat-matic."

"So you like puns, eh? Needs some work, or your partner will run screaming." Plagg groaned. "To activate your power of destruction, you will need to say 'Cataclysm'. To become a superhero, all you need to do is say 'Transform me' or 'Claws out'. Either will work." Adrianna grinned. This was going to be fun.

This young girl was not ashamed to admit that she had seen a lot of anime. She knew the kind of transformation sequences that accompanied this kind of thing. She had seen enough to know that since her powers came from an object imbued with magic, she was probably going to have a magical-girl-esque transformation. It would be so _Clawsome!_

"Plagg! CLAWS OUT!" She yelled. She punched the air, as if showing the ring to an invisible camera, because magical girls had to show off the source of her power. The ring went from silver grey to onyx black in an instant. A green paw print appeared on the previously blank silver disk.

"Wait, I haven't finished explain-" Plagg cried before being sucked into the ring.

" _Oh well, I guess I'll learn on the job."_

She held the ring out to the side of her as she struck a pose, then brought her hand up over her head to show off her ring again. She felt her face begin to tingle, and swept them over her eyes. A mask appeared over her eyes and nose. Then she felt a tingling begin in her hair, and she ran her fingers through it. The ruffling hands left mussed hair and cat ears in their wake. She flung her arms out and felt a wash of magic travel across her body. The transformation ended when a tail made of a long black belt swished behind her. She clawed the air with her new gloves and struck a final pose for effect.

Sure, all the fanfare was unnecessary, but as Darth Vader would've said if he had seen Adrianna: 'The magical girl is strong with this one'.

Adrianna looked down. The full body suit was shiny, black, and looked like leather. Which was good news for protection. Superheroing was dangerous. Unless she had shielding powers, Adrianna did not want the minimal armor that most female warriors wore. She was pleasantly surprised that she didn't get a stupidly short skirt like most magical girl characters.

"Too cool!" The newly minted hero exclaimed.

She felt badass. Adrianna knew that she was cat themed, and thought that she must look like Catwoman. She had hoped that she looked like the Tim Burton version of Catwoman. That costume was fantastic, though Adrianna wouldn't mind looking like Anne Hathaway instead.

There was a large bell on her neck. Like a bell that a pampered housecat would wear. Which, Adrianna figured, must be a part of the 'cute factor' that was a hazard for magical girls.

The top-half of her suit looked like a jacket, with zipper pockets in the front. Her pants were leather, and unadorned. Her belt floated in midair and swished in excitement like a tail. Her boots were round, and vaguely reminded one of paws.

She frowned. She noticed that her breasts were unusually flat in the suit. She didn't feel crushing pressure like she would find in a breast binder. She wasn't huge, but it was rather cool that the suit was so comfortably able to keep her chest out of the way.

Adrianna grinned. Time to look at her sexy self in the mirror. She walked into the bathroom and startled at the boy in tight leather in her bathroom.

"What the heck are you doing in-" her voice cut off has her brain caught up to what she was looking at. She was looking in a _mirror_. That pale panic-stricken face was _hers._

"I'M A GUY?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors Note:**

 **Today I learned that Adrien is a unisex name. The person I spoke to said that she had met two different women named Adrien. I didn't have to change Adrien's name at all! Whatever, I'm committed and don't feel like changing it right now. Just know that I might. ("Bwahaha I am the writer of the fic" yada yada.)**

 **Also, I know that this chapter is a shorter one, but I couldn't in good conscience break up the next one. Since I am actually almost done with origin episode 2, I think that I can add another (longer) chapter tonight.**

 **Does anyone know what the cannon timeline is for ML? I am honestly peeved at the writers for putting the order in a f**king blender. Personal message or email me if you know.**

 **Please review, it makes me feel loved!**

 **I own nothing.**

Adrianna tried not to collapse from shock.

She looked at herself and saw that, instead of breasts, she had pectoral muscles showing through the suit.

 _No wonder my chest was so flat, I don't have boobs anymore!_

She could see that she was somewhat toned, but not buff. _That was one thing not changed,_ she thought to herself.

She continued to stare at herself in the mirror. Her hair, where before was well combed and hung around her cheeks in a bob, had suddenly become messy and shorter. The color had stayed the same, but now there were cat ears poking through her hair. She found that she could wiggle the cat ears. Strange.

Her eyes, where before had been the same emerald green of her mother's had changed to a cat-like green with slits for pupils. Her face looked almost exactly the same, except that her jaw was slightly sharper, her lips were less defined and eyebrows were less delicate. Her hips had narrowed, and she… umm… really didn't want to think about anything lower than that.

So she was herself… as a boy.

She could recognize that the person in the mirror was her- now that she knew- but the changes had been significant enough that the person in the mirror looked like a brother more than a twin.

"Plagg, what the heck is going on?" Her voice sounded strange, it was different- deeper. The former girl, now boy, looked around the room to find that the kwami wasn't there. No voice, no nothing. It made sense she supposed, since he was sucked into the ring moments before.

Now that she thought about it, it would make sense that the transformation would turn her into a guy. How else was she going to protect her identity? People would be able to see though just a mask like it was nothing. If it had only been a change in hair color or hairstyle then the whole of Paris would see through it (her face _was_ plastered on billboards everywhere). Clark Kent would be spotted in a heartbeat if superman were real. Who would ever think that a super hero would change their gender from their civilian life? Her bone and facial structure had changed; it would be hard to identify her.

 _Besides,_ she thought, _I was always more comfortable dressing like a guy anyway._ The times when Adrianna felt most comfortable, was not when they put her in designer dresses and told her how beautiful and stunning she was, but when they needed her to fill in for a guy on the shoot. With a little make-up and a breast binder, she could rock some of the male clothes. A fact which had made the girl wildly popular among photographers. They liked only having to work on a relatively mild mannered model instead of another, possibly more demanding one. Her Father only allowed it if they put her male pictures under a pseudonym, and altered her make up so that she was harder to recognize.

It wasn't that her father was against cross dressing, or any LGBT people personally; he was simply afraid that his business standing would drop sharply if they thought that his daughter was anything but a heterosexual cisgendered female. For this reason, Adrianna had failed to mention to her father that she liked both boys and girls. She also didn't want to incur her father's wrath, and she had never felt the need to date anyone, so it wasn't a problem that had come up yet.

The young hero let her-his (it was hard to change it in her head) hands drop to his sides and found that there was a small cylinder there. It was the perfect width to be a staff, but it was no more than 30 centimeters in length. He felt the cylinder lengthen in his hands to become a staff, roughly a meter and a half in length.

"SO COOL!" This staff-thing could read his mind, and knew exactly what to do. There wasn't a mechanism for it to collapse or grow, so the young hero figured it used magic. It was time to go outside and test this kitty. He felt his mouth form a Cheshire-cat grin.


	6. Chapter 6

**Authors Note:**

 _ **"What's the first rule of having a magic staff?"**_

 _ **"Don't make the obvious joke"**_

 **-Paraphrased from Off to be the Wizard (Scott Meyer)**

 **I love the fact that if you pay attention to ML, you can see some very adult jokes hidden in it. Likewise, I have tried my hand at hiding a couple of them.**

 **I own nothing**

The cat-boy opened his window, and climbed up to the roof. Apparently his speed, balance, agility, and flexibility were greatly enhanced. Not that his physical prowess as a regular person was unimpressive, Adrianna had been fencing for years. Besides, modeling was a carrier that required a strict work-out regimen. This boost was clearly superhuman, and was clearly going to come in handy for The Rocky-Horror Showdown.

The Cat-boy swung his staff around, feeling the balance of the weapon. It was uncanny how natural it felt in his hand. He lunged and parried against an invisible enemy. He decided to go Darth Maul on his invisible enemies and moved his hands to the middle of the staff. The Cat found to his delight that he could actually jump really high straight up (he would have to test his ability when he _wasn't_ being an idiot) and could twirl and jump just like Darth Maul, Obi Wan, and Qui Gon. (He may or may not have completely recreated the scene three times from each person's perspective.) He played with this configuration of his staff for a while, and decided that he really liked spinning the staff around to make it look like a shield in front of him (it just looked bad-ass).

Now to get off the roof. He set down the staff as he pondered his options. There were multiple ways to do this. He could try to jump to the other roof, but he figured that even his cat powers could prove insufficient to get him to the nearest building. He could try pole- vaulting to the other roof, which he counted out for now (he had seen far too many road runner cartoons to try that just yet). He could also try tight-rope walking to the building; this seemed the best option.

The Cat-hero braced himself and faced the building across the street which had a roof that was of similar height to the mansion. He let the staff extend until he deemed it long enough to stretch to the other building. The hero carefully lowered the staff from vertical to horizontal, knowing that physics would try to rip the staff from his hands, which was acting as a fulcrum. Strangely, the staff was precise and disturbingly manageable.

With a feeling of unrepentant excitement that physics seemed to cut him and his staff some slack, the hero looked down at his makeshift tightrope from building to building. It didn't bend or sag in the middle despite the large distance, with virtually no support in the middle of the bar. _A bar of that circumference, made of some sort of metal should sag across that distance with support only on the ends. This staff is probably imbued with enough magic that an elephant walk between these buildings and not see it sag or break._

The hero put a foot on the bar to test its strength. It held. _There is no way that walking across a large gap five stories up on a magic staff could possibly go wrong… Just don't look down._ Feeling like he was tempting fate, he started across the gap.

He got to just above the outer wall of his house before he looked down. At the sight of how far up he was (and how he was held up by only a rod only a couple centimeters in diameter) he experienced a sickening feeling of vertigo, panicked, and slipped. He scrambled to grab the staff as he fell.

His hand clamped onto the metal cylinder. His mind instantly thought, _if it retracts, I'm done!_ In response to his thought, it retracted.

He fell.

His heart leapt into his throat as his body took over and braced his limbs for impact.

Fortunately he only fell three meters to the top of the wall. Before the hero had transformed she probably could have gotten off without serious injury, though the shock of her feet hitting the top of the wall would have smarted a bit. With the transformation, he barely felt the fall. He landed on his feet with staff in hand.

 _"_ Wall, that was convenient." he punned, Cheshire grin back on his face. Plagg had no clue what he was talking about; his puns were great!

 _Good thing I didn't try to pole vault to that building._ Unfortunately as he thought this, his staff grew again with alarming speed toward the ground.

 _Oh no,_ was his only thought before he was wrenched by the arm into the sky. It hurt, but he could tell that the arm wasn't damaged, something that probably wouldn't have been true if he hadn't been transformed.

Once the staff decided that it was high enough to get to 'that building', the staff stopped growing. The teen hung in the air like a cartoon character who hadn't quite got the message that gravity should still apply. He began to fall toward the building.

There was no shame in admitting to himself that he screamed like a little girl. In fact, up until ten minutes before, he had been a girl. Also, he was also absolutely positive that he was going to die. Wile E. Coyote style. Fortunately for him, the staff bent in a way that slowed his fall to a survivable speed, which would have been impossible with any ordinary stick. It sure surprised the heck out of him, as he thought that the darned thing couldn't bend at all.

He landed gently on the building and confirmed that he was, in fact, alive. He sat for a moment in stunned silence, processing what had just happened.

He burst out laughing.

This was the most fun he had ever had. Two instances where he nearly got hurt, and he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins. It made him feel aware and alive. Every detail of his surroundings was crystalized to a fine point. He could hear and feel everything. He couldn't tell if it was the cat suit or his near-death experiences that made his world hum with information. To top it off, he was doing something his father would never in a million years allow him to do. He could do whatever he wanted. For the first time in a long time, he was truly alive and free.

The teenager decided not to kill himself by being an idiot again. So he decided to try the tightrope scenario again. This time, he wouldn't mess it up.

The young hero realized the flaw in his logic at around the same time as the screaming girl in the red jumpsuit collided with him in the middle of tightrope walking between two buildings.

*MLMLML*

"I'm starting to get the hang of thi-"he was interrupted by a strange noise. The young Cat-themed hero looked up to see a red screaming form getting larger and larger. Her arms flailed as she tried desperately to prevent her collision course with the black-clad boy, as well as their subsequent death.

"Gaaah-hrrrggh!" the cat exclaimed as he was hit by, and fell six stories down with, the red and black polka-dotted girl.

There was a jolt and what little room existed between the two heroes was wrenched away as some sort of wire tightened around them. The boy wondered how on earth she had had the wherewithal to save their skins, not realizing that sheer dumb luck had saved them both.

The black clad cat was acutely aware of how close the two heroes were. As they swung, he could see that this falling girl had a red mask with black polka dots around her eyes. Her face was delicate with round cheeks and a cute nose, her eyes were big and doll-like. Her hair was so black it looked blue, and pulled back into pigtails. In other words, she looked like a porcelain doll in polka-dotted spandex.

"Well hey there! Nice of you to _drop in_!" He was the cat of all puns! He patted himself on the back; he was just too good at this.

"Sorry, I didn't do it on purpose!" she said, sounding embarrassed. He wiggled out of the wire and dropped to the ground.

"I bet you're the partner my kwami told me about!" The cat said. Yes, she had to be. What other folks would wander around in a mask and bright red spandex? At least, in this part of town.

Well, if they were going to be partners, they needed to introduce themselves.

"I'm… hmmm…" He had no idea if the mask had a name. He knew that _he_ had a name, but that was his secret identity. No self-respecting super hero uses their real name. Plus, his name would sound pretty weird on a boy. Then again, the polka-dotted hero would likely sympathize, as _she_ was likely a _he_ outside of a transformation. He had to make his name a good one. He was cat themed, and his suit was black…

"Chat Noir." Perfect. It translated to 'black cat', and it conjured up images of tough detectives from film noir. He was no Humphry Bogart, but he owed the public a good performance.

"Yeah, Chat Noir," I tested the name in my mouth. It rolled off the tongue. Now for her name, "and you?"

"I'm Ma-er…. Ma…" the girl in front of him was struggling to get her wire down. Stuttering with each pull. _If the staff let go, then both our tools would come down._ The staff didn't budge. Maybe it needed more of a nudge the farther away it was?

 _Staff! Retract!_ He thought at the metal bar above him. The staff retracted and both of the tools came down… right on his head.

"Madly clumsy. I am so clumsy." Chat Noir rubbed his head. He thought about the few attempts at controlling his _own_ device. She wasn't the only one who had accidentally flown through the air.

"No sweat clumsy girl, I'm learning the ropes too!" Chat said.

An earthquake rattled the streets. It sounded like a far off explosion. The heroes looked toward the noise and saw, to their horror, a skyscraper fall. There was no way that nobody died. The heroes couldn't afford to stick around and be clumsy. They needed to act, before all of Paris was turned to rubble.

"Wait, where are you going?" the red-clad hero asked. Before he knew it, Chat Noir was on the top of a building. His staff had done most of the work, pole-vaulting him to his destination. All he had to do was swing to land on his feet.

"To save Paris, right?" he turned and started hopping from building to building with occasional boost from his staff.

He could hear the laborious footsteps, with an acuity that he'd never had before. Chalk it up to the magic suit. He followed his ears to the stone behemoth. The Rocky-Horror was just outside of a stadium.

This guy had definitely grown. Where before it was maybe three meters tall, it was now three times that size. The police had really gone to work on it. The cat figured that the magic staff would do some real damage, instead of helping its growth along like the other physical attacks.

He steeled himself. _No guts no glory_.


	7. Chapter 7

**Authors note:**

 **To those of you who are reading this, thank you. To those of you who have bestowed your reviews upon me, I thank you even more! To Guest: Harry Potter was my first fandom, and was the main reason why I started taking to books like a fish to water. Thank you Koolkat for defending my little fanfic, and I'm very glad that you like it. Thank you changeofheart505 _especially,_ for reviewing multiple times with encouraging words, and for being an ear I can talk off. **

**I am hoping that I will be able to post a new chapter every Friday. School is about to get serious and I'm not sure that I can do more than one chapter a week. The irony? I'm posting this on a Thursday afternoon during study hall. Make what you will of that.**

 **Side note: I have just finished origins episode 2 and I am SO STOKED about the umbrella scene. I am attempting to parse a coherent story out of the season. I would like to fill plot holes, add lore, and create a plausible timeline for the series so far. If you have ANYTHING that you have noticed for plot holes (as well as lore and timelines), I hope that you will PM, email, or review in order to send them to me. You will get many virtual hugs, and you will hopefully receive a satisfying headcannon!**

 **As always, please review (with critique and/or praise).**

 **I own nothing.**

"KIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMM!" The mountainous lug had jumped on top of the stadium. Apparently it was a golem of few words, because its villainous monologue started and ended with, "WHO'S THE WUSS NOW?" It jumped into the stadium and chased after some joker in a red sweatshirt, whose name was apparently Kim.

Weren't supervillains supposed to give monologues and brag about what they were going to do with the world once they had power? For that matter, why was Rock-head so intent on this Kim fellow? It would make sense if he were the mayor's son, but Adrianna knew that the mayor didn't have a son. So who was this guy?

Kim tripped. Chat, seeing the jock in danger, launched himself toward the pair. Chat got there just in time to place his staff in between Rocky's hand and Kim's body as it reached out to grab the prone figure. The cat retracted his staff so that he landed lightly on his feet. He needed to distract Rocky so that this Kim could get away.

"Hey, it's not very nice to pick on people who are smaller than you!" the tiny cat stood, holding his staff against his shoulder in a pose that conveyed confidant flippancy.

 _There's nothing more infuriating than someone who doesn't take you seriously._

"I guess you are talking about yourself?" it grunted stupidly. Its arm moved to swat the cat. It wasn't the fastest stone in the landslide, and the black-clad teen dodged it easily. Its fist slammed the ground; at that proximity it felt and sounded like a cannon blast ripping through the air.

 _Note: I really don't want to get hit by that._

Chat ran away to start a game of cat and mouse. Which was which, he didn't know. All he knew was that with every dodge he frustrated it more. This was fun.

Chat Noir dodged to his left and spun around to shoot past it, hopefully egging it into a full-on run. The big guy couldn't change directions quickly, and he wanted it off balance. Chat stopped, turned 180 and ran straight between the stony legs. Then he stood on the other side of it and waited for the inevitable attack, teasing it.

He needed to change tactics, now that the boy had run far enough away from the fray. Chat had been on the defensive, dodging and teasing, drawing its attention. Now he needed to actually do some damage.

It pounded the ground where he had been, not a half-second earlier. Chat jumped on top of his fist and sprung into the air. The teen hero swung his staff down with all the force of his landing and the strength he could muster. The blow swung true, right on its head. _Even for Rock-head, that has to be a knock-out blow._

The blow gave him enough momentum to land on the ground behind the monster. The cat turned, expecting to see it fall, or at least look dazed. To his horror he saw the monster emit a yellow-green light, and grow to twice its previous size. The only attack that Chat could think of had strengthened it!

 _This cat needs some serious help._

"Where are you partner?" he called out to the stadium.

Chat was on the defensive again. Instead of attacking this beast, he was back to holding its attention so that the damage would be mitigated. Chat shuddered to thing what would happen if he was defeated after he had riled up this stone behemoth.

 _Well, the polka-dotted girl could come through._

His hopes weren't high though. He supposed that if she was going to come, she would have by now. Maybe she got lost, or fell off a roof and was injured somewhere. He hoped not. Maybe she was planning their brilliant attack… that he had bulldozed into. Whelp, the element of surprise was no longer an option.

Chat rolled to evade an oncoming fist. Was this thing faster too? Or was that just his senses slowing with panic?

The teen jumped and ducked around a new volley of attacks aimed at him. Rocky was like a toddler trying to smash a fly. At least in scale. Cats couldn't fly, and this thing was the most aggressive 'toddler' that would ever live.

It changed tactics. Ignoring the black-clad hero, and his desperate attempts to capture its attention, it strode to the end of the football field. It turned, and in a flash of movement, Chat dived out of the way of oncoming white netting. He looked behind him to see the goal that Rocky had thrown heading toward a girl kneeling with a phone in her hand.

Without thinking, the teen hero threw his staff under the net to catch the seats on either side of the girl. The staff caught the projectile and bounced it harmlessly to the side.

Adrianna laughed in triumph _. One life saved! At least one family didn't lose someone today._

The laugh cut off when a hand slammed around Chat, crushing him in its grip. He was fairly sure it wasn't trying to kill him at this point, because if it was, he would be a red smear in its palm. That being said, it wasn't exactly gentle.

"What are you waiting for super-red-bug? The world is watching you!" Chat Noir looked up to where the girl he had just saved was shouting. She was shouting to something behind Rocky. He couldn't see the red-clad girl standing on the top of the stadium.

"Animal cruelty? How shameful!" He heard her confidant voice laced with irony, and a strange buzzing noise.

The world spun in painful green loops. He landed square in the goal; the one that was still in the ground, anyway.

"Sorry it took so long, Chat Noir. "The girl said.

He bounced to his feet.

"It's cool Wonderbug, now let's kick his rocky behind!" Chat started forward at full steam.

He ran maybe ten steps before his tail pulled him up short. That buggy girl had just pulled on his tail!

Surprisingly, his tail actually hurt- but not in the belt-like cinch around the waist way. It hurt his tail, and his backside where the belt connected to his frame. Weird.

"Wait!" she let go, the cat lost his balance, nearly falling to the ground. He grabbed his tail and patted it. He knew that it was just a piece of leather, but that hurt! Apparently, he could feel pain in his cat additions as well as move them. Which seemed like it would be more harm than good in a fight.

"Haven't you noticed it gets bigger and stronger with every attack? We have to do something different." She glared pensively at the ground, as if willing it to give her the answer.

Of course he'd noticed! It was outside of the Manor before the whole thing started! He had just vainly hoped that attacks with magic staffs would be better than attacks with mortal weapons.

"Different how?" The cat asked. It wasn't as if they had any non-physical attacks…

"I don't know…" she said. Wait. _Non-physical attacks?_

"Okay then, let's use our powers! _CATACLYSM!_ " Chat Noir's hand tingled with power. He clenched his fist, feeling the inky distillation of destruction pour through his fingers.

"Apparently I destroy whatever I touch!" So cool! This was probably far more focused and far more effective than anything that the military could come up with. Plus, there would be no civilian casualties!

"I don't need a superpower to destroy everything." She said. Huh. Well, how exactly were they supposed to defeat it? If normal destruction was counter-productive then magical destruction would be much better!

He would later wonder if this was one of his worst ideas, his pouring destructive power into the beast might have caused it to become unbeatable. He would also later spend many a restless night wondering if his cataclysm would have killed the boy he didn't know was inside. The world would never know though, as his stupidity saved him from defeat or murder on his conscience.

At the time, he wanted to see what exactly he was dealing with. How fast his power acted, and how localized the area of destruction. He needed to see if there were any surprises in store for him, or the item it was used on. The goal post was right behind him so he turned to touch it.

"No, don't do that!" His partner cried. At the time he thought that she was concerned about destruction of property.

Chats feather-light touch spread rust and age like a disease over the clean white paint. It spread to the fibers that made the netting, and the whole thing collapsed into dust a second later. A forgotten ball that was touching the goal was unharmed and the ground stayed solid. The disintegration seemed to only affect the things that he grouped together as an object. If he'd thought of the post and netting as two different things, only the one he had aimed for would disintegrate, but since he'd wanted to destroy the _goal,_ the whole thing came down, but none of the surrounding items.

"Cool!" Chat exclaimed, "It's just you and me now! Time to rumble, soon-to-be-rubble!" he ran to the hulking figure looming halfway down the field.

The inky figure brought his hand down on the toe of the beast, in order to pulverize it into sand.

Nothing happened.

Maybe the whole thing was too large to go at once. Maybe just the legs? That would slow it down at least.

He lifted his hand and brought it down again. Nothing.

Maybe the feet? Nothing.

"Uh-oh"


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note:**

 **As of 1:00 on Thursday, there were 413 American views on The True Agreste for the month of September. What does this mean you ask? It means that I'm Homestuck trash and I need to get more sleep.**

 **I started to look over the previous chapter and decided it was too short. I cut up that chapter anyways, so I don't feel bad about posting the rest of the chapter when I'm supposed to be working on my data structures homework. Shh! Don't tell my teachers.**

 **Also note: I just noticed a SNAFU on the previous chapter before publishing this one. If this chapter doesn't make sense compared to the last chapter, re-read the last one please. Sorry for the foul up.**

 **Thanks again to my readers and my reviewers, you are all loved. I appreciate feedback, and if you don't want a review out there for the world to see, feel free to pm or email me the critique!**

 **I own nothing.**

"Uh-oh" he was sitting at the feet of a mountain of stone. He couldn't even see the head for the height of it. "I guess I only get one shot to use my power."

That made sense. Only the first thing touched after a cataclysm was summoned. You can't have your superhero accidentally destroying things willy-nilly. What kind of hero would they be if they did?

The igneous titan stared down at him, unamused. The tiny cat waved. The stone foot drew back.

Next thing he knew the cat was next to his partner in do-gooding, with a whole lot of bruises.

"I think I have been kicked to the curb" he mumbled, brushing off his suit and standing up.

"Now you only have five minutes before you transform back, didn't your kwami explain anything to you?" her arms were crossed. She was definitely more level-headed than he. She had let her kwami tell her the ropes, and now he was stuck making stupid mistakes because he was too eager.

"I guess I was a little excited about my new life." Grinning like the cat that ate the canary. No shame in being stocked about having _superpowers_. Adrianna's kwami wasn't the most forthcoming of beings anyway. Chasing the hungry little demon down to ask him questions. Besides, Adrianna thought she'd know what to do: use her superpowers to beat the bad guy. Plus, once she had accepted that she was a superhero, Adrianna figured that the longer she waited, the more people would get hurt.

"Well, up to me…" the pigtailed heroine said, as if saying, 'what's done is done'.

" _LUCKY CHARM!"_ She threw a yoyo (of all things) into the air. As it spun directly above her, ladybugs flew out of the yoyo, only to clump together to form… a wetsuit.

"Super power!" he said. He'd felt creation wash over him as he'd watched. This girl wielded power unlike any he had witnessed. She was able to create whatever she wanted… and she called for something so apparently _useless._ He would have gone for a pulverizer gun himself. Then again, he'd had his shot; it was her turn now.

"My kwami told me that I had to break the object where the… What-cha-ma-call-it… the Akuma is hiding." She said, eying the wetsuit with more curiosity than Chat was comfortable with. This girl was clearly as lost about the wetsuit as he was. Just what they needed.

"Well, he's made entirely of stone. Not much place to hide." The cat said, as if to point out the obvious. Light dawned on her features.

"His right hand, it's still closed! He never opens it! It's like the Russian dolls! The object isn't _on_ him, it's hidden in his fist!" she looked at him, the light of discovery still glowing on her face. Her stunning blue eyes locked on to Chats. He froze, his mouth went dry. All thoughts fled from his mind as he saw the intelligence and determination in that stare. She was like Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategy. In that moment, she was impossibly beautiful.

"So what's your plan?" _focus Chat. Save the world now, figure out what just happened later._

She surveyed the scene, her mouth curled into a smile. The cogs in her head whirring. He could see the exact moment when she had a plan. She pointed at a water hose between them.

"This." She picked up the hose, tied up the feet hands, and inserted hose into the half-knotted neck of the wetsuit.

"Don't resist, trust me!" her yoyo wrapped around the now very alarmed cats ankles. Suddenly he was whipped around in a circle and flying _toward_ the stone behemoth.

He had no time to appreciate the fact that physics was just as lax with her tools as it was with his.

"This girl is CRAZY!" He shouted as she threw him straight into the hand of their foe. _Great, so this girl will feed this cat to the dogs._

"Catch me if you can!" she shouted. Her face was almost manic. There was no way this girl was sane. Maybe she had lost her marbles at our defeat, and wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. But those eyes, so lucid, so _intelligent_ , looked close to victory, not death. She was, of course, caught by the tremendous figure. _Now both of us are immobilized. What are we gonna do?_

"And now…" she turned to the girl with the phone. "ALYA! THE TAP!"

Now he understood, he was a place holder. She couldn't throw an object at the behemoth who held him, that would have been seen as an attack to be swatted away. What she needed, was for it to hold something so that this hand was otherwise occupied. The only things that he would pick up were people. So, as she sailed through the air the stone giant unthinkingly caught her in its other fist, letting the small purple rock escape from his grasp.

The water rushed into the now _very useful_ wetsuit which filled quickly with water. The expanding wetsuit surprised the Rocky-horror into releasing the polka-dotted hero. The crazy bug ran to the golem's lost charge and stomped viciously on it.

The rock, to Chats surprise, shattered. _Maybe magic makes items brittle… or maybe Ms. Perfect is just that strong._

A _butterfly,_ of all things, fluttered delicately out of the destroyed rock. Chat had expected a snake, or ooze, or an screeching lovecraftian demon, or something. A _butterfly_? Maybe Chat should just stop with the expectations, or barring that, just stop being surprised when expectations were broken.

The hand that Chat was still clutched in dissolved into several large boulders. For the second time that day, he felt like Wile E. Coyote as he seemed to hang in the air before falling. The boulders dissolved into golden light. The light faded, and in its wake was a boy. Large, but no older than Adrianna. _Speaking of broken expectations…_

Chat realized that his assessment of the battle that they had just won was wrong. Dead wrong. This dazed boy was in the rock monster the whole time. This girl in red spandex had not only saved paris, but she had also saved this boy from a fate worse than death. She had the wherewithal to think under pressure. She could keep her head in a crisis, and she sure as sugar could out match Chat in a competence contest.

"This girl is awesome! She's _crazy_ awesome!" Chat stared at the girl in pure admiration as he felt warmth bloom in his chest. His stomach seemed to flutter, and he wondered if the adrenaline was catching up to him.

The savior of Paris looked down, startled at the rock in her palm changing into a crumpled bit of paper. She laughed in relief to see that the last vestiges of dark magic had left them alone.

Chat got up, and walked to the pigtailed heroine. She turned to face him. Compliments flooded his brain, and his mind short-circuited as he saw her pride and success glowing in the smile on her face.

"What's going on? What am I doing here?" The former villain looked startled and disoriented, as if he had woken up to find that he was not in his own bed. He stared pleadingly at the only people that he could see. These people were dressed in leather, spandex and masks, which probably didn't help with his confusion; he didn't seem like he was in _that_ sort of crowd.

"You were incredible Miss… uh, bug-lady." Chat didn't realize until now that he didn't know her nom de plume. He was too excited to let that stop him from praising her. "You did it!" He was ready to shout her achievement to the skies, but was stopped by her sheepish gesture.

"We both did it partner!" Chat felt an involuntary glow at the word 'partner'. They were partners! A team! Look out bad guys, here they come! This super-duo could do anything!

They fist bumped simultaneously, as if they had read each other's mind.

"Bien Jouè!" they shouted in triumph. Victory felt so good.


	9. Chapter 9

**Authors note:**

 **Alright! Final instalment of this episode. You excited? I am!**

 **I have this headcannon that Adrien/Adrianna was a little messed up by their situation (actually it was pretty mild, considering...) and I am thinking that they have this (kinda) contradictory thing where they are afraid of being emotionally dependent on someone but they still want a really close friend. I think that I need to do go a little behind the scenes between Origins ep. 2 and The Bubbler in order to explore that (among other things).**

 **As always, love you all. Please review!**

 **I own nothing.**

Adrianna went over every second of her time as Chat Noir. She was in a daze as she asked the chef to bring food; food that the demon cat had pestered her non-stop for.

 _"_ _You should get going, our identities must remain secret" Chat had never heard the beeping of his ring before now, but knew that it would be a nuisance he would grow to hate. He looked down at the offending jewelry. A toe of the paw print blinked in warning. Chat bowed, a knight in shining leather._

 _"_ _Farewell, M'lady. Let's do this again soon okay?" Chat bounced out of the stadium._

It was selfish to wish that there would be more Akuma. Adrianna felt drawn to that other life, and to her Lady. The suit represented so much to her. The freedom to be who she wished, with no one to dictate her actions. She didn't have to be perfect, and she would figure it out because her Lady was there too. Chat could make mistakes. He could laugh and joke and figure out who he wanted to be, what kind of _person_ he wanted to be. He could be suave, or charming, or brave, or silly, or dorky. He was Adrianna's freedom.

But if she was honest, Adrianna also wanted to see her Lady again. Adrianna was afraid that she could grow to rely on Ladybug.

Reliance was something that scared Adrianna, it usually ended in disappointment. It ended with an empty house, and a broken home. It ended with a shattered heart and two lost parents; one gone, and the other a ghost of himself.

Reliance was trusting that someone would be there when you needed them. It was knowing that they wouldn't just disappear without anyone knowing if they were dead, or had just left. It was knowing that if something bad happened, that they would stick together and tough it out, not turn their heart to ice and ignore the person who needed them the most.

No.

This girl, her Lady was stronger. The Lady had _saved Paris_. Chat was _her partner_. Their duty was to protect the city together. They were chosen for this. Neither would have been chosen if they were just going to leave. Adrianna had to trust her partner, and trust that whatever it was that picked her and her Lady, it had done it well.

And yet…

And yet Adrianna couldn't quite muster the courage to take the plunge. Adrianna would put her life in The Lady's hands all day long, and would willingly sacrifice herself if she could save The Lady, but she couldn't give her trust just yet. She just wasn't ready.

*MLMLML*

"No deaths reported yet today, though several patients remain in critical condition. The Paris PD credit social media for the low casualty rate" the camera cut to a recording of a press conference where a red-headed man in a sling was already talking.

"- people really stepped up today and alerted others of the direction and speed at which Stone Heart was heading. This allowed buildings in the affected areas to be evacuated before they were demolished, leading to the miraculously low number of casualties. We would like to thank everyone who posted their videos, pictures, and tips to help out others. We ask that if anyone else spots Stone Heart, to immediately post it to our emergency site dedicated to evacuation as soon as they are safely able to do so. " The camera cut again to the reporter.

"We still have no word yet on why Stone Heart has paused in his rampage through the city, but we will have up to the minute coverage on Stone Heart's whereabouts. Please remember to post to the emergency site or call 112 if internet is not an option. Remember to check for evacuations. Stay safe Paris"

 _Nobody had died._

It was amazing. No one would have to try to sleep without a spouse or parent or child. No one would have to go without someone because of this. Adrianna's heart swelled with happiness and pride. She might have been the difference between a worrisome day and a mourning family.

 _Nobody had died._

Tears welled in her eyes. Her joy pouring down her cheeks as she laughed and danced and cried around her room. This was a good day. This was the moment that would stick in her mind whenever Chat was asked why he sacrificed so much. Whenever life was too much and Adrianna was on the brink of wondering why she accepted the Miraculous, _this_ moment was the image that filled her with determination. This first victory, this first day of wholeness was her reason to keep going.

Adrianna heard a knock at the door. She stopped her celebrations and opened the door. The chef walked in and set the four covered trays on the table in front of the TV. Adrianna thanked her as she left.

"So thanks to this amateur footage, the Parisians now know the identities of their heroes!" The news anchor said. Adrianna's attention suddenly caught, desperate to know what her partners name was. She didn't notice her Kwami buzzing around the food like a fly.

"I am pleased to announce that we will be organizing a huge celebration in honor of our city's new protectors: Ladybug and Chat Noir!" the mayor said with all the political pomp that he could muster.

"Ladybug…" Adrianna sighed, "Her name is Ladybug!" Adrianna now had a name for her partner. She couldn't wait to see Ladybug again. Adrianna wanted to know more about her Lady. She was absolutely amazing, there was no question. Paris would celebrate Ladybugs triumph and Chat would be right there beside her. Maybe Chat would be able to ask her questions about herself. What her favorite song was, what books she liked to read, what games she liked to play, what her family was like. Adrianna knew that their identities still needed to be protected, but that didn't mean that they couldn't know about the little things. It wasn't as though there was a snowballs chance they would meet in real life. Not when Adrianna was only allowed to see a handful of people for her job.

Plagg flew up to Adrianna with a fancy arranged cup full of fruit, nuts, and dark chocolate. It was Adrianna's favorite treat. Which was why she was a little mad when Plagg made a disgusted sound and knocked over the cup, shattering it on the table, and spilling food everywhere.

"Eww! What is this?" the cat cried, and grabbed another cup to show it to his Chosen.

"Seriously? My personal Chief made all this!" This was some of the best food that money could buy. If the stupid cat wouldn't eat this, then there was something wrong with him.

"If you expect me to get my energy back after a transformation by eating _this,"_ he expressed his displeasure with the second cup and threw it on the ground "then you are more dunder-headed than I pegged you for!" Adrianna frowned at that. How was she supposed to read the stupid cats mind? "I need something more… delicate!" she sighed, giving in.

"Okay then, what do you want?"

*MLMLML*

Camembert. He wanted camembert. Ugh.

Camembert was popular among the dinner parties that Adrianna frequented, only because foreigners wanted to taste what France was like. These idiots, especially Americans, tended to ask for 'exotic' cheeses and pastries. Adrianna figured that if they wanted a cheese that smelled like a chemical plant they could eat whatever so-called 'cheese' they had in those cans they like so much. Actually, the cheese-in-a-can smelled better than camembert, which rather disturbed Adrianna.

Since camembert was a French cheese, it was fairly easy to find in Paris. That didn't mean that she had to like it.

"Camembert cheese, fantastic. All he eats is camembert, which means I'm gonna smell like stinky old cheese." Who ever heard of a cat that liked _cheese_? Wasn't that a mouse thing? Adrianna took a moment to enjoy the irony of her kwami's food choice. Her attention wandered to the screen still showing Stone Heart as the top story. Wait. She registered what she was actually seeing.

"- these victims transformed into stone beings are still like statues. Police are perplexed. What will happen to them? Will they come to life or be frozen in time forever? We will be back with eyewitness interviews right after this." The news cut to commercial. Adrianna sat, struck dumb. Ladybug had purged the boy of his possession, this was supposed to be over!

"Plagg, what's going on? I thought we defeated him!"

More victims. Not deaths per se, but people unable to go home. They were hostages. Whatever was behind this was not done yet. The mastermind of it all had a plan still.

Adrianna had to hand it to them, this sick bastard really had no qualms about how many people were hurt. The fact that no one died had been a fluke. Buildings had been torn down, people could have very easily died, and there was no excuse for that. There was no telling what they would do to get what they wanted. Not that anyone knew what they wanted.

For a moment, Adrianna pitied them. What happened to this person to make them so callous? What caused them to be so cold that they could use people like puppets to their own ends? What kind of trauma got them to the place in their life where they didn't care if hundreds, maybe thousands of people died?

"Did you capture the Akuma?" Plagg asked nonchalantly. He ate his cheese, seemingly unconcerned about the fact that people were getting turned to stone.

"Capture the Akuma? We cleansed the victim of it, what does capturing the Akuma have to do with these new victims?" Adrianna was perplexed, she had no clue what the problem was. The victim was freed, and the spell had been broken. How could putting the butterfly in a jar help them?

"Yeah, these guys can multiply and make new, less powerful opponents. It takes the negative emotions of the victim while it's on a rampage, and uses it to reproduce. However, the magic is tied to the original victim and their emotional state, so these new baddies won't activate unless the original victim has a bad day and accepts the influence again." Plagg spoke through a mouthful of cheese as these nuggets of information fell from his mouth.

"These new guys? They will be under Stone-face control, once he goes to the dark side. They won't have the power to grow like him, but they will be indestructible and a nuisance. The best way to defeat them all will be to find the main guy, and get the Akuma _again_ and then have Ladybug purify the Akuma. She is the only one who can actually remove the evil stain that marks that innocent creature. Once she does, it will return to its life in the wild as a butterfly." Plagg finished his cheese and turned to his Chosen, ready to take questions.

"So I can't do anything without ladybug?" Adrianna asked.

"Only Ladybug can capture Akumas and repair damage caused by supervillains. So yeah, you're pretty much useless in this department. At this point, your best strategy is to be a bodyguard and aid to her." The teen sat and brooded.

 _So we aren't partners after all._ Of all things, she couldn't take more people using her to their own ends.

Plagg, noticing his Chosen's sour mood continued, attempting to make her feel better.

"The Ladybug and Cat Miraculous are linked, they are creation and destruction, life and decay, spring and fall. You cannot have one without the other. The few times that they did not go hand in hand, either by losing one, or fighting one against the other, they had reduced their effectiveness tenfold. Besides, you make sure that Paris' salvation is safe. That makes you as important to this stupid fighting business as she is." Adrianna smiled a little at Plagg's uncharacteristically kind words, even if his encouragement was backhanded.

No matter what came next, they would take care of it. Ladybug and Chat Noir were a team, they would figure out how to fix this.

That's all Adrianna really needed to know.

 **END OF EPISODE**


	10. Chapter 10

**Authors note:**

 **Before we begin our chapter I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you.**

 **I own nothing.**

Adrianna's phone woke her up early the next morning. She had slept better than she expected to, what with the Super-hero business, and her plans for the day. She went through her morning routine, slathering far too many products onto her hair and skin for her liking (one of the many things she hated about being a model). She put on the same T-shirt, dress shirt, and jeans that she had on yesterday, which had been laundered especially for today. It was the outfit that she had picked out a month in advance to be her 'first day of school attire' and darn it all if she wasn't going to wear it for the first day she went to school.

She ate a quick breakfast down stairs. Her oatmeal tasted like cotton to her in her nervousness. Nathalie set Adrianna's schedule in front of the teen. Her crisp gaze lingered on the girl. Adrianna pretended to look over her schedule in an attempt to say 'why no Mme, I wouldn't possibly run away again, I learned my lesson yesterday'. The teen excused herself to her room for a moment, and climbed out of her bedroom window. She was careful to close the window (for the five minutes _that_ trick would buy her) and began her careful dash to freedom.

So it was that Adrianna found herself running, in a strange case of Deja-vu, to her school.

"You are such a strange kid! Who would want to be at school when you could stay at home all day?" Adrianna had almost forgotten that Plagg was there. He had teased her mercilessly about going to school. Then he had stated that he was coming along for the ride, and insisted that she stock her schoolbag with cheese and a warm glove to curl up in. Adrianna figured that Plagg would likely cause trouble, but that it was best he do it where she could try to fix things before anyone noticed.

"You just don't get it Plagg! I've had enough of being shut up at home by myself by my Father! I wanna meet people and make friends- go to a normal school like everyone else!" She would fight this. Every day, she would fight her father's unreasonable restriction on her. She would try every morning for every day of the schoolyear if she had to! She was _going to school_.

Her short stint as Chat Noir seemed to give her perspective on her life. After all, fighting a Stone giant and _winning_ made a confrontation with her father seem a little less scary. She also figured, _screw it. What have I got to lose?_

"Aaarrrrgggh! I think I'm feeling weak!" Plagg, ever the Drama Queen hammed up his performance to just under sarcastic levels. Adrianna rolled her eyes. He wanted cheese. Little pig.

"You know what's strange? The fact that all you eat is this disgusting rotten smelling camembert cheese, that _I_ have to carry around, and then I have to smell like a cheese shop 24/7 _that's_ strange!" Urgh. What on earth was she supposed to tell her coworkers? Makeup artists, wardrobe, hair stylists, even her fellow models would likely give her grief about her funky smell. There were bound to be awkward moments, and awkward moments were 'unbecoming of an Agreste'.

She wondered if she could have a name surgically removed from her. What's in a name? A girl by any other name wouldn't be as trapped as she was.

"If you want to be able to transform into a superhero, then stinky cheese is the deal my friend!" And thus, the tiny Rat-Cat got his way, devouring a proffered wedge of cheese. As much as she hated to admit it, she really liked being Chat Noir. Reeking of curdled, rotten milk was a relatively modest price to pay for it.

*MLMLML*

She had to keep running. She had been gone too long, and it was a short drive to the school- on top of that, she was late. She hadn't accounted for a missing the subway to her school due to Plaggs cheese fix. she had tried to leave at the absolute last second so that Nathalie would not have time to yank her out of school without causing a scene.

She finally rounded the corner to the school and ran up the steps to her new life. Again Adrianna heard the dreaded screeching of tires. Damn! She had almost made it!

"Adrianna, don't do this! Your father will be furious!" Adrianna turned and was unsurprised to see Nathalie, still dressed in her smart business attire and tight bun.

Adrianna couldn't go back, not when she was so close.

"Tell him you got here too late _please_!" Without waiting for a confirmation or denial, Adrianna turned and ran to her new life.

*MLMLML*

Adrianna marveled at what she had just done. For one moment, she had control over her _own life_! She looked around the courtyard in excitement. _My new school! My new school! Chloe will be here! Chloe will be- right there actually._

There she was, Adrianna's only friend. Chloe stood, she looked like a Barbie: blond-haired, blue-eyed, dressed in the latest fashion, and impeccably well groomed. Not that Adrianna could throw stones, she fit that description as well, only with green eyes-not blue.

They could have been sisters, she supposed. She didn't know what sisters actually behaved like, but Chloe had always been nice to her… more or less. Chloe had invited her to countless parties, activities, vacations, and shopping sprees over the years. Chloe had been her only respite from the constant work and loneliness that her father's house offered.

That said, she knew that Chloe could be mean. Her staff had the highest salary and the highest resignation rate that Adrianna had ever heard of. She was petty, vindictive, and was totally obsessed with her looks. Adrianna was able to put up with her because she had been modeling for most of her life, she knew a prima donna brat or two.

Adrianna was still happy to see her only friend in the world.

"Hey Chloe." Adrianna kept herself to a small smile and wave. Chloe on the other hand squealed and shreaked,

"Adrikins! You came!" The smaller, more expressive girl ran across the courtyard and nearly tackled Adrianna in a hug. This is why she liked this girl. Someone in the whole world was genuinely pleased to see her.

Adrianna was then mobbed by people. She was used to this, she gone to PR events where she would interact with fans that loved _Adrianna Agreste_. She was mildly surprised that she would be mobbed at school, but hoped that this would pass. Adrianna plastered a smile on her face. Chloe grabbed her arm and gave her the grand tour of the school.

"Well, this is _your_ seat Adrikins! I saved it for you, right in front of me!" Chloe gestured to the front row in a grand flourish.

"Thanks Chloe" Adrianna said and sat down next to a boy with a red baseball cap, blue shirt, glasses, and a pair of headphones.

"Hey. Adrianna." She extended her hand for him to shake. He glared at her and pointedly didn't shake her hand.

"You're friends with Chloe then huh?" his eyes gestured behind her. She turned and saw Chloe fish her gum out of her mouth and into a red-headed girls waiting palm. The red-haired girl stuck the gum on the bench across from Adrianna.

"Hey! What's that all about?" Adrianna asked, surprised that her friend would purposefully stick her gum on a seat. It was gross and belonged in the trash, and more importantly, didn't she know that people sat there?

"The brats that sat here yesterday need a little attitude adjustment. I'm just commanding a bit of respect, that's all!" That seemed suspect, something as gross and petty as gum on a seat was almost certainly less effective than other, more polite means. She frankly wondered what had got into Chloe, and why she was being mean.

"Do you think that's really necessary?" Adrianna bent to scrape the gum off of the seat, in an attempt to spare the poor soul who would have their pants ruined by Chloe's rudeness.

"Ahaha! You have a _lot_ to learn about school culture, Adrikins! Watch the master." Adrianna doubted that school was as cutthroat as all that, and she seriously doubted such childish tactics would earn respect instead of hatred or scorn. There just seemed no plausible way that that would end well. Adrianna continued to pick the sticky gum off the seat.

"Hey! What are you doing?" the shout of alarm emanated from a small girl with hair so dark it looked blue. Her indignant glare pierced Adrianna and she fumbled to explain through her embarrassment.

"Uh…I-"was her brilliant response before Chloe and the red haired girl laughed loudly at the girls. The dark-haired girl's bluebell eyes turned hard.  
"Okay, I get it. Good job you three, very funny!" the dark pigtails swished and her doe-eyes flashed dangerously, her doll-like round face hard with indignant anger.  
"No no! I was just trying to take this _off!"_ Adrianna explained. Great, she was already fouling up her 'make friends' plan.

"Oh, really?" The girl said, clearly not believing her. She bent to try and scrape off the gum. When she failed, she fished into her bag for a napkin that she unfolded and covered the gum with.

"Uh-" The two continued their cackling, cutting off any hope Adrianna had of defending herself.

"You're friends with Chloe right?" Her tone was biting and accusatory.

"Why do people keep saying that?" Adrianna asked herself. The dark haired girl and her friend sat on the bench. Adrianna dejectedly sat back down on her bench.

"Now do you see what I mean about respect?" Chloe asked. Adrianna's eyes glued themselves to the table. Adrianna was so embarrassed, she had barely been in the school for five minutes and already somebody hated her.

"I know I've seen her somewhere before…" the pigtailed girl mused. Adrianna listened, staring at the table.

"Of course!" recognition sounded in her voice, "She is the daughter of my favorite fashion designer, Gabriel Agreste!" Great. Pigtail-girl was one of the few folks that would've actually met her as _her_ first and an Agreste second, and she just had to go and foul it up.

"Daddy's girl, teen supermodel, _and_ Chloe's buddy? Ha! Forget it!" the voice of pigtail's friend caused Adrianna to start. She looked over, pigtail's friend was that crazy reporter girl! Anna-no wait, Alya. Ugh! Adrianna had majorly missed out! She knew that Alya was fearless and determined, if really, really stupid. Seriously, that girl was going to kill herself for the Ladybug/Chat Noir scoop. Adrianna wanted to get to know that girl. Too bad she had burned that bridge.

"Why didn't you just tell her it was Chloe's idea?" The boy next to Adrianna asked curiously.

"Well, I've known her since I was a little kid. I know she's not perfect, but I cant throw her under the bus! She is like my only friend." The boys eyes grew sympathetic. He smiled at her.

"I'm Nino, and its time for you to make some new friends, dude." He offered his hand. Adrianna took it.

"Hi Nino, nice to meet you!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Authors note:**

 **Sorry this is a day late, I couldn't find my USB where this was stored. My other fanfic, Just A Friend ,was actually updated on time because that one is written one chapter at a time... this one is more planned and I have much more written in advance.**

 **Please tell me what you like or don't like as a review, PM, or email to Asuraheterodyne . Any feedback is greatly appreciated.**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **I own nothing.**

"Agreste, Adrianna." Mme Bustier called. Adrianna froze. Was she in trouble? Was she supposed to go up in front of the class?

Nino, seeing her hesitation, took pity on the girl.

"You say 'present'" He whispered at her.

She stood up, raised her hand and shouted,  
"PRESENT!"

The class giggled. Mme Bustier smiled kindly. Adrianna sat. Nino turned to her with a reassuring smile and a congratulatory fist bump. She felt pretty good. Nino would help her figure stuff out. She could do this!

"Bruel, Ivan" A thunderous crash assaulted their eardrums. The door was knocked down by the Stone giant from the day before.

"PREEEESEEEEENT!" The deafening roar emanated from the possessed teen, who stomped toward a short, rubenesque girl with colorful braids.

"MYYYYYYYLEEEEEENEEEEE" Adrianna dove out of the room, making sure that he brought his bag. She was suddenly very glad that her kwami was safely sleeping in her schoolbag.

"Adrianna heard screaming, some more roars, and two ground-shaking booms. She ran to the locker rooms that Chloe had shown her earlier.

"My first day of school and I don't even make it past roll call!" why couldn't this have waited until _after_ school? She knew that this was someone else's crisis, this stone guy was clearly having a rough couple of days, but darn it all, _she_ had to clean it up!

"A day off? Now that's what I'm talking about!" Plagg said. He floated out of her bag and into a locker.

"Oh no no no, we've got homework to do! PLAGG, TRANSFORM ME!" Adrianna felt herself go through the transformation. As much as Adrianna hated that she was missing the school time that she had fought so hard for, she would never grow tired of the rush that came with the transformation.

Chat grinned, excited. He may have actually danced out the door, He couldn't remember, he was too focused on his new body and the fact that he would see his Lady again.

"You have no idea who you're dealing with! My daddy, _the mayor_ , will bring the police, the army, the entire _cavalry!"_

" and don't forget the superheroes!" Chat said as he jumped just high enough over the head of Stony that he was able to give it a solid smack on the head. He had assumed that this was one of the lackeys but to his surprise, it grew. Either this was the original, or all these guys had this power.

"Oh no! My bad!" When Chat had jumped over its head, he had landed in front of the stone giant and could now see that it held a very miffed Chloe, and a very scared colorful-braid-girl, who Chat assumed was Mylene.

"Ugh, super incompetent you mean!" Wow, a superhero tries to save Chloe's sorry butt and she is insulting him. That takes balls. And stupidity. Chat rolled his eyes, it was lucky that Chloe was dealing with Adrianna, not some random superhero. A deep growl interrupted Chat's annoyance,

"FAH!" Stony scoffed, "YOU WANTED THE CAVALRY? WELL HERE IT IS!" Smaller than Stone Heart, but still standing two stories high, were Stony's minions. Chat was quickly surrounded by humanoid pillars of rock. How on earth were they supposed to defeat all of these monsters? Heck, they could barely defeat _one_ yesterday!

"SEIZE HIM!" suddenly Chat felt like the last marble in a game of _Hungry Hungry Hippo_. He bounced from place to place, acting purely on instinct. Each moment he was nearly crushed. Stony left Chat to his cronies.

Great, he was going to be beaten up by a bunch of low level monsters. He wasn't even worth watching. Ugh typical villain arrogance. Although as all of the close calls and dodging seemed to indicate, Stone Heart's arrogance may not have been entirely misplaced.

One of the golems grazed his leg as Chat sprung away from the pounding fist. His eyes watered and he just _knew_ that if the leg hadn't been super powered, that it the bones would have been powdered. The blinding flash of pain sent him yowling onto the head of one of giants, causing it to slap at him like a mosquito. If he kept this up there would be no way that he wouldn't be captured or killed.

One of them got the bright idea to throw a car at him. The stone behemoth lifted it over its head. Okay, that's it. he needed help.

" If you can hear me Ladybug, I could use a little help!" Chat dodged the car, which bounced into a building. He hoped that on one was inside.

"What is she waiting for?" Huh? Chat turned to the voice. The crazy reporter girl was there. Fan-freaking-tastic.

Another car flew, Chat leapt to safety. The car bounced and he heard a gasp. The car was flying toward the stupid, stupid girl. Chat threw his staff again, willing it to save the apparently suicidal girl.

The car landed. Chat felt a wave of relief when he heard a scream of alarm, but not pain. She was alive and conscious, for now. There was no guarantee that the car wouldn't shift and crush her but-

A stone hand clamped around the Cat-themed hero. His legs, the only thing that was exposed, were waving frantically. His arms pushed against the rock that held him, but it was like pushing against solid walls. Chat yelled for help, for Ladybug, for _something._

"LET GO YOU ROCK HEAD!" Chat bellowed, angrily trying to break free. The stone giants started to move. Chat heard Alya shout, but from inside the hand of death it was hard to tell what was going on.

What felt like an eternity later, something bonked him on the head.

"Chat Noir! Extend it!" that was all he needed to slip his arm up and twist the rod to the side. The rod extended, opening the giants previously impenetrable grasp.

Chat tumbled from the giants grip and fell, bumping his head again. He sat up, rubbing his sore skull. He opened his eyes and felt a jolt of panic. A hand loomed toward him. Uh oh.

The world spun away from him, his leg leading the way. He found himself hanging upside down from a lamp post. Ladybug sat like a fiery guardian angel on the lamp.

"Sorry I was late." Seeing the twin-tailed superheroine made Chats stomach leap. Play it cool.

"Lady, have I ever told you that you turn my world upside down?" Chat said with a wink. Nailed it. Totally suave.

"Oh! You're quite the jokester aren't you?" Ladybug smiled. Three stone lunkheads roared, interrupting his Lady.

"-But your comedic timing needs work." _Did she just pun? Okay, its official, she's perfect._ "We gotta get out of here!" Once again the world flew around him. He twisted around and landed on a roof right behind the already running superheroine.

"Hey, aren't we going to take care of them?" they were leaping away from the three rock heads. She opened her yoyo like a phone and checked something.

"No!" one final rooftop and we landed at the Jardins du Trocadéro. "If we want to save them all then we go to the source!" they turned to the Eiffel tower, framed by the buildings to either side of them. Around the tower buzzed police and news helicopters filming the colossus that had climbed onto the frame of the Eiffel Tower like King Kong. "That one."

Stone Heart roared. Many minions of mineral made their way to their master. Chat stared at the scene. He was suddenly struck by the _Hollywood_ of it all. He laughed.

"Where is Michael Bay?" Chat Looked around jokingly. Ladybug grinned, she'd had the same thought. Her face hardened. She looked back toward the surreal mess of cops, villains, and terrified onlookers.

"We better not have any explosions." She half joked. The helicopters were getting perilously close to Stony. One hit and their fuel tanks could rupture in a dramatic fireball. People were in those birds. Chat sobered.

"So what's the plan Milady?" Chat asked. He turned to the red-clad superheroine.

"Uh…" A megaphone screeched its feedback, interrupting her.

"I demand my daughter's safe return!" the mayor shouted.

"Erm… what about Mylene?" Chat asked to himself. He supposed that a father would be so panicked that he would tunnel vision on his only child, but honestly! He was also the mayor! It was his job to think about the people of his city as well.

"Daddy!" her pleading screech could barely be heard over the roar of a passing helicopter.

"You know what?" The giant roared. Ladybugs eyes bugged, realization written on her face. Ladybug's yoyo flew, and launched her toward the far away tower.

"You're welcome to her" _Yay!_ Chat naïvely thought, right up until the second Stony threw the girl, screaming, to the pavement of the Pont d'léna.

Chat quickly extended his staff, jamming it to the ground. He flew, his heart in his throat, to try to save his only friend in the world. He wasn't going to make it.

A red blur collided with the screeching girl, who was halfway through pleading with any mystical power that would listen to save her life.

"I didn't promise!" the girl cradled in Ladybugs arms said. They were on the ground, safe. The Lady shot her a confused look. Chloe, ignoring the superheroine who'd just saved her life, ran to her relieved father. Chat landed next to the sour faced Ladybug.

Chat, momentarily relieved that he didn't have to witness his friend die, was horrified when the police chief gave the all clear to fire. Didn't they see Mylene in Stone Hearts grip?

"Wait! No don't attack them, you know it will only make it worse!" Ladybug shouted. Oh yeah. That too. Chat hadn't even remembered that the stone giant would be strengthened by any attack.

"I have a new plan, unlike you, so stand aside and let the professionals do their thing! You've already failed once!" the arm that wasn't in a sling gestured them to get lost.

Ladybug gasped, and looked as if the man had physically slapped her. She turned her gaze toward the ground.

"He's right you know… If I had captured Stone Hearts akuma, the first time around, none of this would have happened!" Ladybug said. Wait. What? No. Heck no! Adrianna had seen these jokers take a crack at taking down this guy. The police had failed, but Ladybug had actually done it! The only reason that this was happening again was because they had forgotten a step. A step which these idiots couldn't perform even if they wanted to!

"I knew I wasn't the right one for this job!" Chats thoughts screeched to a halt. He focused on her. Guilt. Doubt. Fear. All this he saw. This wasn't her. He had to show her that she was incredible, and let her know how much he believed in her.

"No." She looked up from her hands. Tears glistened in her eyes, not yet shed, but close.

"He is wrong. Without you, she'd no longer be here." He gestured with his eyes to the Chloe, still in her father's arms. "Because, without us, they won't make it." He turned her to face him. He looked directly into her beautiful bluebell doe eyes. He saw her confidence building slowly behind her eyes. It was like watching the sun rising. "and we will prove that to them. Trust me on this. Okay?" He winked at her.

She blinked. A smile formed on her face. It was possibly the most beautiful smile he had seen. It was full of confidence, hope, and trust.

"Okay."


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's note:**

 **I love this scene. It was so incredibly fun to write. I can relate to Chats reaction to Ladybug.**

 **(I don't have a huge crush on Mari, what are you talking about?)**

 **As always, review, PM or email me. Thank you so much!**

 **I own nothing**

Stone Heart roared. He began to cough. Why on earth would something that big cough? Maybe it had accidentally inhaled a bird? It hacked and retched and screamed until it exhaled a cloud of dark butterflies, Green Mile style. The stone giant, seemingly exhausted by the effort of birthing the insects, keeled over and fell onto the inside of the tower.

A face formed out of the butterflies. It had a high forehead, large nose, deep narrow eyes and a large, pointed chin. It opened its mouth and spoke in a deep silky tone that gave Adrianna chills, and made her feel like a child ready to cower.

"People of Paris!" the voice echoed, sounding like an inescapable force of nature, a demon that could not be fought or resisted.

"Listen carefully: "The whole city seemed to fall silent. All of Paris was going to hear whatever this villain had to say.

"I am Hawkmoth." People began to whisper and worry among themselves quietly.

"Hawkmoth?" Chat and Ladybug asked simultaneously. Who on earth was this? What was he doing? Why would he terrorize Paris? How did he gain his power? Who was this man? What would drive someone to create villains and hurt innocent people?

"Ladybug, Chat Noir! Give me the Ladybug earrings and the Cat ring now, you've done enough damage to these innocent people!" this foul, cruel, devious, evil little cockroach would casually harm others and then place the blame on those who tried to protect him? As much as his perverted lies grated against Chats ears, he looked around and saw that the Parisian police department seemed to look at the two heroes with growing accusation.

Chat knew that Hawkmoth's face and words would be broadcast across all of France, heck, it would be broadcast all around the world. There would be many that would see Chat and Ladybug as the enemy-

A clap resounded thorough the fearful crowd, sarcastic and slow. Ladybug walked toward the looming face of the titanic demon with a sardonic smile.

"Nice try Hawkmoth. But we know who the bad guy is. Let's not reverse the roles here." She held her arms out in an open gesture.

"Without you, none of these innocent victims would be transformed into villains." Her stance was now strong and defiant, like a cliff face daring the sea to crest it. Chat stared open-mouthed at the fiery strong willed beauty before him. Her confidence and cunning emanated from her in waves. She looked like a greek godess staring at an ancient beast, putting it in its proper place beneath her.

"Hawkmoth! No matter how long it takes, we will find you, and then it will be _you_ who will hand us _your_ miraculous!" She threw her yoyo and flew, in a righteous wave of fury toward the cloud of evil she intended to destroy.

"TIME TO FREE YOU FROM EVIL!" She seemed to hang in midair as she threw her yoyo, over and over into the sea of black fluttering insects. Hawkmoth screamed uselessly at the red-clad protector of Paris that tore at his effigy. Each stroke of her weapon cut swathes of insects from their swarm, until finally there weren't enough butterflies left to sustain the face of their master, and they seemed to explode, trying to escape the hero's wrath. She rounded up the last one with a final grunt and landed on the tower, in the place where the villains once stood.

Paris was in a state of awed shock. This girl-this hero had saved them. She turned to them and spoke, like the voice of a benevolent god,

"Let me make this promise to you, no matter who wants to harm you, Ladybug and Chat Noir will do everything in our power to keep you safe!" She held her yoyo out before her and over her head. She released the cleansed butterflies in a cloud of white, fluttering glory. They exploded out into the city in a ring of harmless beauty. She shone like the sun and all those who saw her impressive display broke from their shocked silence.

The whole of Paris cheered, fists pumping the air, jumping up and down, hollering and whooping for joy and relief. Everyone would remember where they were when Ladybug had promised to bring the mastermind, Hawkmoth, to justice.

"Wow," Chat stared at the girl who was resplendent in her victory, fiercely smiling and daring Hawkmoth to fight her. There would never be a person who shone more brightly than her. Adrianna didn't care who that girl was, whether she was a man, woman, anything in-between, there was no denying what Adrianna felt for her now. The entity that was Chat and Adrianna, model and hero, made an oath right then and there.

"Whoever she is beneath that mask, I love that girl." In that moment, Adrianna and Chat belonged, heart and soul, only to Ladybug. Whenever they pictured Ladybug, the first image that would come to mind was this triumphant goddess, standing on the Eiffel Tower in all her glory.

*MLMLML*

A crash came from the tower behind Ladybug. Chat rushed to the tower where ladybug had been knocked off balance. He helped her up and the leapt down to the now recovered Stone Heart.

"Help me!" the small girl in Stone Hearts grip cried. The giant shifted so that his body was between the heroes and his prize.

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE MYLENE FROM ME!" he jumped, shaking the ground, onto a leg of the tower. The heroes picked themselves off the ground as Stony shouted,

"COME TO ME MY STONE BEINGS!" Stony climbed. A curious crunching scraping noise came from below them. Chat ran to the edge of the tower and leaned over to look down. To his horror the rocky minions were filing up onto each corner of the tower.

"We're surrounded! What do we do now? We can't attack him!" Chat had made that mistake _several times._

" Yes, but we know where the Akuma is!" She turned to stare at Stone Heart who was still climbing up the side of the tower. He was using his left hand freely, and the only way he could hide the akuma would be…

"In his clenched fist! The one he is holding Mylene with, so…" Chat was cut off by Ladybug,

" So we know he's in love with her," Ladybug's face brightened " That's it! We don't separate Stone Heart and Mylene," She turned to face Chat, whose heart leapt, "We bring them closer together! They are _made_ for one another, it's just that they don't know it yet!" her hands clasped expressively in a pose of appreciation of the romantic-ness of it all.

And then she ran off, climbing up the tower and out of sight. Chat's brain tried to catch up with what Ladybug had said. He understood what all of her words meant, but darn it all if he understood what the girl was planning.

"I'm not really following you, but I guess I better trust you!" Chat turned to an imaginary audience and in an amused tone said, "Something tells me this is how it's gonna be from here on out." Chat jumped to follow his Lady.

Stone Heart clung to the top of the Eiffel tower, damsel in hand, Helicopters buzzing, looking every inch like King Kong. Chat wondered when he was going to pound his chest and roar.

Ladybug perched herself on the very tip of the tallest rod of the tower.

"Help! I'm scared of heights!" Stony's fist cried.

"Everything's gonna be alright!" Ladybug reassured Mylene.

Stony roared loud enough that the helicopters circling him were knocked back by it. Chat put his hands over his ears. His cat hearing couldn't take all of this.

Two minions appeared behind Chat. He jumped out of the way and shouted,

"How are you planning to get them closer than they already are?" Mylene was in his fist for Pete's sake, she couldn't get much closer than that! Chat felt a hand clamp around him. _Not again!_

"By using our powers! LUCKY CHARM!" Chat was thrown into the air, up and over the peak of the tower, as if he were a ball they were playing pass with. He caught a strut as he fell and flipped out of reach of the stone lackeys. He craned his neck to look at Ladybug. She stood there with some sort ladybug print backpack on.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" he asked, more to see if he could help than anything else.

"We'll see soon enough!" she tossed her yoyo as if testing its weight. In a flash, she flicked it around Stone Hearts arm and neck.

"His hand, get ready!" Chat placed his weight on the balls of his feet, ready for anything. Ladybug hauled back on her yoyo, putting her whole weight into the effort.

The result was Stone Heart and Mylene's lips meeting.

Stone Heart gasped in surprise and dropped Mylene. She grabbed onto his pinky for dear life, but the purple rock that held Stony's akuma fell.

Chat pounced over the side of the tower, stopping along the way to have his staff give him more speed to gain on the small stone. When he reached it, he smacked the rock with his staff like Babe Ruth hitting his 700th home run.

He jammed his staff into the Eiffel tower and halted his fall. Stone Heart disintegrated leaving only Ivan in its wake. To Chat's horror, both Ivan and Mylene fell. He couldn't save both, and he couldn't do it while he was dangling for his life. He climbed up to stand on his staff.

"Chat Noir, you take care of Ivan!" Ladybug, the voice of reason, shouted. She was going after Mylene. He could take care of Ivan. He sprang from the end of his staff and powered up his Cataclysm.

He would later wonder why he had felt the need to use his Cataclysm when his staff would have worked just fine, and he had learned that he could sorta make things by destroying them, which was totally cool!

In the heat of the moment though, he used his Cataclysm to make a rod that would hold both him and Ivan, whom he caught by the arm just in time.

"Gotcha!" Ladybug said, and saw the ladybug yoyo close around the black butterfly overhead. She caught Mylene and opened up a parachute. _That's_ what was in the backpack.

Ladybug had saved the day.

*MLMLML*

Chat had tossed Ivan over to the nearest horizontal strut so that Chat could get his staff to get them down. Ivan may have twisted an ankle on the landing, but he hung on admirably. Chat got his staff and used it to gently lower them to the ground.

"Bye-bye petit papillon!"

"MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" Chat heard a shout, and pink magical swarms of ladybugs rushed around Paris fixing all the damage that had been done.

"Woah! Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Chat supported Ivan with his bad foot as they walked toward the girls.

"Yeah! It's beautiful, incredible, amazing, marvelous! It's… MIRACULOUS!

*MLMLML*

Chat stood a little apart from the three other teens, staring at the girl in red as if she were an angel that was blessing them with her presence. Chat's mind had gone blank, the only person in the world was the twin-tailed beauty before him. Chat thought about her courage, her strength, her blazing intelligence and selflessness. She was everything that Chat didn't know he needed… until now.

Ladybug left the pair of victims and walked toward Chat. Chat's mind jumpstarted. He needed to be cool, suave, and charming; nothing less would do for his Lady. She turned her eyes to the couple, talking quietly, Chat followed suit.

Mylene hugged Ivan, who blushed. They were so cute. Chat caught himself wishing that he and his Lady could be like that.

"Awww! They're _so_ made for each other" the Lady said dreamily, her hands clasping near her face in a gesture of appreciation.

"Just like us two!" Chat said, and reached for The Lady's shoulder, attempting to establish a romantic closeness.

Oblivious to Chat's effort, Ladybug turned and grabbed the proffered arm and wrenched it so that she could see the still beeping ring on his finger.

"Uh oh! You see that?" She said, pointing at the toe-less paw on the ring, " Time to split. See you soon Chat Noir!" she walked away, fingers waving in goodbye. The ironic smile playing on her lips told him that she knew that she had reversed the roles on the now dumbstruck Chat. He waved back at her as she flew off and out of sight.

"Can't wait, Milady" He said and bowed, a soft smile on his lips. He made his exit.

 **Author's note:**

 **UMBRELLA SCENE NEXT! \\(*^U^*)/**


	13. Chapter 13

**Authors note:**

 **I had so much fun writing this chapter. I adore the umbrella scene and I was fangirling all over the place.**

 **I own nothing**

The next day Adrianna found guards waiting for her as she tried to escape for school. She ran and dodged through their grabbing arms, using a tree as an emergency escape route, and using it to quickly get herself over the wall.

But these guards were not hired by Gabriel Agreste for nothing. So while she had escaped their attempt at capture, she did not escape their influence. In the chaos of her escape, a small tracking device had been set upon her, the better to track her route. They sent their best to pick her up.

Adrianna's arm was nearly wrenched from its socket when a vice-like grip closed over her wrist.

 _What is it with this arm?_ It was the third time in as many days that this arm had been nearly dislocated, and Adrianna could feel the sore muscles and joints protest their abuse.

Adrianna did not go quietly, she tried to rip her arm out of the large man's grasp, his looming figure far less intimidating than it would have been mere days ago. He caught her around the waist, gently picking her up like a fussy toddler, and pushed her into the seat of the car. The doors locked and Nathalie sat, impassive. The Gorilla squeezed himself into the driver seat and started the engine.

"Buckle your seatbelt." Nathalie said, staring forward.

Adrianna clicked the seatbelt into place and the car began to move. She sat like a noble warrior captured in battle; head held high, and determined to try again tomorrow.

The screen built into the back of the seat in front of her flashed to life. The image deflated her pride, and fear crossed Adrianna's features.

Her father glared at her through the screen.

"This is unacceptable." He began, "This Circus act every morning cannot be allowed to continue." Adrianna looked at her shoes, knowing that anything she said would be steamrolled.

"For three days now, you have tried to attend this public school without my permission. You disobeyed me Adrianna." The car came to a halt in front of the cream colored façade of the Francois Dupont College. "Take a look at that school." Adrianna complied.

"You will never, I say, _never_ go back there again," Her father's forceful words fell like a sword, cutting her off from the gossamer thread of her new life.

"Father, no…" Adrianna could barely hear herself, her voice was so weak. He was going to kill her chance for normalcy. She was almost sixteen, her childhood was almost gone. He was going to take this away from her like he did everything else.

"Without your bodyguard." _Wait. What?_ Adrianna did a mental double-take as her mind processed what her father had just said. _Without my bodyguard, does that mean…_ Adrianna's eyes widened, and hope and gratitude sunk in like a warm bath. She turned to Nathalie, who sat as seemingly emotionless as ever.

Nathalie had clearly gone to the mat for Adrianna. Convincing a man like her father must have taken every ounce of logic and pleading that the stoic woman could muster. She cared enough for him that she vouched for her _to Gabriel Agreste_. The older woman turned her gaze toward the window, avoiding the touched look that the young girl had given her. It was not Nathalie's place to be her mother, and she would always act with detached professionalism.

"Thank you Nathalie! Thank you father!" the ecstatic girl opened up the now unlocked door and ran up the steps to her new school.

*MLMLML*

 _Time to mend burned bridges._

Adrianna followed behind the angry swishing of black pigtails. Marinette, the girl who had mistakenly thought that Adrianna had put gum on her bench was still not speaking to her.

 _Well, she doesn't need to speak. She only needs to listen._

The twin-tailed girl stopped at the end of the covered arch that marked the entrance of the school. It was raining. The kind of late summer rain that washed away all of the accumulated dust that days in sunny weather would bring. Squalls like this were often short, resulting in beautiful shows of glistening pavement, and rainbow-glistening trees. It was a crisp, comforting, soothing rain.

Adrianna walked up to the girl, who had stopped; having apparently neglected to bring an umbrella or coat.

"Hey." Adrianna waved at the girl who turned away, snubbing the blonde faux-conspirator. Adrianna looked down at the water splashing up from the soaked pavement. Adrianna walked past the girl, black umbrella unfurling to protect the blonde girl from the patter of raindrops.

"I just wanted you to know… that I was only trying to take the chewing gum off your seat. I swear." Adrianna tilted the umbrella, as if trying to protect herself from the other girl's reproach. She turned to look the black-haired girl in the eyes.

"I've never been to school before." She turned away, as if hiding from the truth of her situation. "I've never had friends. It's all sort of… new to me." She shrugged, as if to say: _and if I mess up, the only thing I can do is ask for forgiveness and patience._

Adrianna turned to the wide-eyed girl and offered her the umbrella. It was a piece offering. A way of saying that she wanted to start over, and get off on the right foot. It was offering friendship.

Green eyes stared into blue. Marinette was struck by the honesty and hope in his eyes. There was no resentment, no hint of irony or malice. Those emerald green eyes were open and kind.

Marinette looked like a deer in the headlights. She gasped in surprise as something rushed through her. It was warm and tingly, she was lost in the gaze that held hers. She slowly lifted her hand to accept the gift. Their fingers brushed against each other, and the girl in pink withdrew her hand momentarily in surprise. She accepted the gift, her eyes still locked with the young model before her.

With a light swoosh, the umbrella closed itself over the dumbstruck girl's head. The moment broke.

The ridiculous and unexpected image of Marinette's head and shoulders replaced by a bat-like umbrella caused mirth to bubble through Adrianna's walls of tact and politeness. She burst into laughter, not cruel or unkind, but genuine happy laughter. Marinette lifted the edge of the umbrella and caught sight of the beautiful, happy girl before her. The sight and sound of the girl laughing before her caused her to laugh as well. The two laughing girls were the only two people in the world in that moment.

"See you tomorrow." Mirth still laced the blonde girl's voice as she turned to walk down the steps, the rain pattering a steady rhythm on her hair and skin.

"First day of school and we already have two lovebirds." Plagg said, affectionately teasing his Chosen. She laughed, dismissively.

"Ha ha, whatever, she's just a friend." She stopped and thought about what she had said. She had said it casually, like it was nothing. Like it was a given.

" _A friend!_ "

She smiled, looking back toward her _new friend_ standing at the top of the steps.

*MLMLML*

 _I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship._

Standing in the same spot where he had tested his Chat Noir, Master Fu watched his new students, his green Kwami at his side.

"Excellent choice, master" the turtle fairy complimented.

"Those two were made for each other." It was not often that a Cat and Bug Wielder came along that complimented each other so perfectly. Master Fu knew, with certainty, that his choice of these two in particular, were guided by fate.

They watched the oblivious heroes as they made their way home.

END OF EPISODE


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